Koi baby helps his mother farm and becomes the richest man

"There's no rush for that," Xu Xia smiled sheepishly, "It's almost Chinese New Year, and I want to make a new dress.

"You're the best at sewing in our village, so I came here with such a thick face..."

Aunt Zhao agreed without hesitation: "Okay, no problem. Coats are easy to make, and I don't have anything to do during the day, so it will be done quickly."

Xu Xia thanked him repeatedly.

Aunt Zhao took a tape measure and measured his size.

Xu Xia was about to leave when Aunt Zhao stopped her and asked Zhao Hu to take Xu Xia to her room to sit for a while and take off her coat to mend it.

Zhao Hu happily pulled people over.

Aunt Zhao helped mend the clothes and sent them to Xu Xia, and Xu Xia asked to leave for the second time.

Qin Ying had already picked some Chinese cabbage, cut a handful of garlic sprouts, and picked a large bunch of mushrooms, put them in a basket and handed it to Aunt Zhao.

Aunt Zhao said with a smile: "We grow these ourselves, you can try some!"

Xu Xia said hurriedly, "Master Chen Jiu also grows mushrooms over there, so we have some to eat."

"Brother Xu," Zhao Hu interrupted, "Yours is yours, this is a gift from us, they are different!"

Xu Xia accepted it.

After he left, Aunt Zhao opened the bundle. Inside was a piece of black cloth with dark patterns, two pounds of cotton wool, and a clean piece of clothing.

Aunt Zhao was still a little puzzled.

Qin Ying couldn't help but sigh secretly and reminded: "Mom, I mean to make it according to the appearance of this one."

Aunt Zhao's face flushed. She had impulsively accepted the job, but she had forgotten that the clothes the other person wore were different from those worn by the country folk. She was dumbfounded. "What should I do? What if I mess it up?"

Having already promised someone something, it's not easy to go back on your word. Qin Ying took the garment, shook it open and looked at it carefully for a long time. "No big deal, let me cut it."

Aunt Zhao couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed.

Qin Ying smiled and said, "Mom, we are a family, don't think too much."

She left An An to Zhao Hu's care, spread out the cloth, cut the pieces, and began sewing and stitching with Aunt Zhao.

By the time it got dark, most of the work had been completed.

Aunt Zhao rubbed her eyes and exhaled, "If we work harder in the first half of tomorrow, we'll be done."

The next day, before noon, the clothes were ready. Aunt Zhao folded them carefully, packed them together with the scraps of cloth into a bundle, and asked Zhao Hu to deliver it.

Unexpectedly, not long after Zhao Hu left, he brought Zhou Yu back.

Looking at the big bag in Zhou Yu's hand, Aunt Zhao's eyes became a little dizzy, and she kept looking at Qin Ying: Yingzi, has mother gotten into trouble?

Qin Ying was relatively calm.

An An happened to be awake, and was naturally happy to see Zhou Yu, so she took the initiative to rush over to him.

Zhou Yu casually placed the bundle on the bench, exchanged a few pleasantries, and explained the purpose of his visit. He was quite embarrassed, "Aunt Zhao, to be honest, I'm a clumsy person and can't sew. Several of the clothes here are torn..."

Aunt Zhao asked with a stiff face, "Why did Sister Zhong leave?"

"Oh!" Zhou Yu sighed, "Aunt Zhong had some problems at home, so she hurried back. It was okay when she was here, she could help with sewing and mending. After she left, there was no one to help with sewing, so I had to change clothes all the time.

"I've already put on all the clothes I brought.

"To be honest, I'm a very proud person and I don't want to go out wearing torn clothes...

"Besides, the New Year is coming soon. There will definitely be a lot of people coming to pay New Year's greetings. I'm... so embarrassed."

Aunt Zhao looked at Qin Ying for help. She was considered to be a skillful woman among the country women, but she had never sewn clothes for an official!

With her big, rough hands, what if she fails to sew the clothes properly and instead leaves new holes?

Seeing this, Zhou Yu touched An An's clothes and said slowly, "I came up with this idea after seeing the delicate and beautiful clothes you made for An An, and also after seeing Xu Xia's new clothes.

"It's the end of the year, and I don't want you to work in vain. How about I bring something to exchange with you?

"Our rations have just been delivered. I'll give you a pound of rice and a pound of flour. Is that enough?"

If he hadn't promised her any benefits, Qin Ying wouldn't have dared to agree. But after hearing what he said, she nodded and agreed. "Our craftsmanship is crude, please don't despise us, sir."

"How could that be?" Zhou Yu said with a smile, "I'm the one who troubled you." He took out a rattle like a magic trick and played with An An.

An An's eyes lit up. She knew this thing, of course, but this was her first time playing with it.

The small drum is exquisitely made, with pictures of children playing painted on the drum body. The drumsticks are two very smoothly polished wooden beads painted red.

With a twist of the little hand, the rattle makes a crisp "bang bang bang" sound.

Hey! Fun! Love playing!

The room was immediately filled with the baby's sweet laughter.

The adults couldn't help but smile with relief.

Zhou Yu didn't stay long. He teased An An for a while and then got up to say goodbye.

Aunt Zhao went to cook, and Qin Ying then opened the bag.

Inside were four robes, three pairs of trousers, and a cloak.

The material doesn't look expensive, but it's dense and strong, so it must be expensive.

The cloak was made of dolomite, just the right kind for winter wear. There was a hole in the chest with burn marks, probably caused by flying sparks.

Aunt Zhao took the time to come over and ask, "Yingzi, can it be mended?"

"Yes," Qin Ying had already thought of a solution. "I'll fill it in with a line first. We don't have thread of the same color, so we can only embroider something on it to cover it up."

Her eyes were somewhat vacant as she murmured, "It's a pity there are no embroidery pieces. If there were, it would save a lot of trouble."

Aunt Zhao was puzzled. "What is that?"

"Mom," Qin Ying pursed her lips and explained, "Not all officials are rich, especially Hanlin scholars. Nine out of ten Hanlin scholars are poor.

"My father is a poor Hanlin. If we relied solely on his salary, our family would have starved to death long ago.

"Thanks to my mother's good budgeting skills, I got a medium-sized shop as part of my dowry.

"When she had nothing to do, my mother would take me to do embroidery. I was too young to do big pieces, so my mother asked me to embroider small pieces of flowers, birds, fish and insects.

"When one of us has a torn garment, but it is still to the point where it cannot be worn, we can patch it up with these embroidered pieces."

Aunt Zhao touched her head and said, "Don't be sad. Your parents hope that you live well." In fact, there was no time to think too much. Farmers have endless work to do all year round.

Qin Ying withdrew her thoughts and smiled, "Don't worry, mother, I'm fine."

Most of Zhou Yu's clothes were torn at the elbows, cuffs, and trouser legs, which were not difficult to mend, so Qin Ying handed them over to Aunt Zhou and concentrated on mending the cloak herself.

Seeing Aunt Zhou about to cut a patch into a palm-sized square, Qin Ying hurriedly stopped her: "Mom, cut it into a long round piece, patch both elbows, patch twice, and then hem the outside along the round piece."